Fish Compatibility in a Large (3,000 gallon) tank

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo

Drstrangelove

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Oct 21, 2012
2,693
1,229
164
San Francisco
I am looking for some advice on the inhabitants I plan to place in my dream tank. Assuming that I have a large enough tank, could I expect to be able to house the following fish to full size:

1) oscar x1
2) black or silver arowana x1
3) red snook x1
4) pantano cihlid x1
5) peacock bass x1
6) oxydoras niger x2
7) giraffe catfish x1
8) giant raphael catfish x2
9) tinfoil barb x7
10) giant gourami x1

Mostly I am wondering:

a) will some be subject to being eaten when full grown? I've done some research and I 'think' it looks ok.
b) will I have difficulty raising them all together (from the start) because the growth spurts will place some in danger of being eaten? If not, is there a preferred swequence to raising these? I hav elooked and yes, some of these seem to grow super fast.
c) is the tank large enough to handle this much bioload? Should I reduce the oxyodoras niger and giant raphael catfish each to 1 only? Or reduce even more fish?
d) are there tempermental issues regardless of the 'being eaten' concern? E.g., one fish will get picked on too much with these particular fish in this tank.
e) are there some fish that should be swapped out for other fish that I have not listed to make a better choice?

I have some very modest experience in keeping fish for about 10 years. I have kept Oscars, Tinfoils, Plecos, Chocate Cichlids, Green Terrors in tanks of 150, 100, 75, 55 and 50 gallons. This is obviously a massive jump for me and any advice is most welcome.
 
those fish will look like dots in a 3000. Get like 30 peacock bass
 
don't forget all the other things besides cichla :drool: particularly in the catfish family lol

I might consider adding a lima shovel nose (does not get too big? 18-24"), and maybe a fire eel. I of course do not want to put too many in the tank, and I'll try to err on the side of having excess capacity.
 
I might consider adding a lima shovel nose (does not get too big? 18-24"), and maybe a fire eel. I of course do not want to put too many in the tank, and I'll try to err on the side of having excess capacity.

I agree. Fire eel and Lima would be cool but Lima grow painfully slow. Also I agree about only having few pbass. I hate it when people have tons of pbass in one tank. I'd do a trio of either cichla monoculus or cichla ocel brokopondos.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
I agree. Fire eel and Lima would be cool but Lima grow painfully slow. Also I agree about only having few pbass. I hate it when people have tons of pbass in one tank. I'd do a trio of either cichla monoculus or cichla ocel brokopondos.


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app

Those are some beautiful fish. Thanks for the tip. I'm adding the cichla monoculus to my list.

here's what it looks like now.

1) oscar x1
2) black or silver arowana x1 (leaning towards the black)
3) red snook x1 (petentia splendida)
4) pantano cihlid x1 (cichlasome pearsei)
5) butterfly peacock bass x1 (cichla ocellris)
6) oxydoras niger x2
7) giraffe catfish x1
8) giant raphael catfish x2
9) tinfoil barb x7
10) giant gourami x1
11) fire eel x1
12) cichla monoculus x3
13) lima shovel nose x1

On the lima, the best growth 'looks' like it will indeed be slow. It might not fare well, so in the end it may need to be dropped.
 
I would say, for the Fire Eel, as long as you have some type of cover over the tank then go for it, otherwise, just be careful with them as they are known escape artists who can get out of some of the smallest openings on a tank...
 
MonsterFishKeepers.com